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In Australia, there has been a surge in cases of a flesh-eating bacteria named Mycobacterium ulcerans that form ulcers (also known as Buruli ulcers) in one’s skin. This bacteria is in the same family as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Tuberculosis) and Mycobacterium leprae (Leprosy). If left untreated, the deformity can lead to the need for an amputation. This bacteria originates in the tropical locations of West and Central Africa, which makes scientists wonder why it is popping up all the way in Australia. In Australia, this bacteria is thought to have been around since 1948. In 2016, there were 182 recorded cases of Mycobacterium ulcerans in Victoria, Australia’s most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall.

It can affect almost anyone, including animals and children, unlike the strain in Africa that usually mostly affects middle-aged people. It’s also unknown in how this bacteria spreads from person to person, which makes contagion efforts much more difficult. One theory is that it spreads via mosquito bites. It also affects people more during warmer months, when more skin is susceptible to the bacteria.

Mycobacterium tend to typically live in water (even if it’s water treated with chlorine) and food sources. Some, including Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Mycobacterium ulcerans are known as obligate parasites, meaning that they require a host in order to finish its life cycle and reproduce.

Rings of Saturn is a Deathcore band that formed in 2009 and didn’t gain too much popularity until the 2010 album, “Ultu Ulla.” I enjoy Rings of Saturn, but in most Deathcore or Heavy Metal, I don’t like it when electronic music is added. I like straight forward drums, guitar, and vocals. But this band has managed to combine the two and make it sound great. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite bands and I highly recommend giving them a listen.

Truth or Dare came out on April 13, 2018, and is about a very vicious game of truth or dare. The director is Jeff Waldow, who has directed many movies in this genre. The company that produced the film is Blumhouse Productions, who also produced Get Out (2017) and Insidious: The Last Key (2018). The producers are Couper Samuelson and Jason Blum. The screenplay was written by Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs, and Jeff Waldow. It had a budget of $3.5 million.

This is the ‘Truth Or Dare’ movie poster.

Perhaps movie fans would’ve thought that a film with a budget of $3.5 million, and produced by people who have expertise in making horror movies, could produce another good movie. However, they struck out with this one. This was not a horror movie, it was just labeled as a “horror movie”. It was not in any way original, like Happy Death Day (also produced by Blumhouse, 2017). The film follows a group of friends going to Mexico for spring break. While they are there, they play a game of truth or dare. Unfortunately, this releases a demon who turns this game into a deadly one.

That is incredibly unrealistic. Horror movies must play on psychological fears in order to scare people. They have to be based off realistic or logical reasoning. The game of truth or dare in Mexico is realistic and could happen. Sure, they characters could play a game of truth or dare in Mexico. Strangely, they played it in an abandoned church, where the demon was trapped. The first part is not as realistic. Why would they be playing truth or dare in an abandoned church? How did they get in, why did they want to, and isn’t that breaking and entering?

The story goes on, and the man, Carter, who brought the main characters into the church explains the rules to a main character, Olivia. Once a player are asked “truth or dare”, she’s in the game. If the player choses dare and then refuses to do the dare, she dies. If the two people before her choose truth, you she must choose a dare. If the player doesn’t choose either truth or dare, the consequence is still the same- death. These death scenes involved no gore, no jump scares, and barely any blood.

In scene one of the movie, it shows a girl who is dared to burn another person in a store. It would’ve been much more scary if they focused in on the body burning, but instead they dropped the subject really quickly. The writers could’ve played some ominous music, or let the viewers watch the body burn. They really could’ve used this scene to their advantage. I don’t think that the writers handled suspense as well as they could have. Another example of the misuse of suspense is when the characters did not complete dares, they died on the spot. I think that the writers could’ve made the characters die slowly instead of killing them on the spot.

I also did not like when the characters were asked ‘truth or dare?’ They were asked when they were either all alone or when they were in a vulnerable position. It was interesting at first, but eventually I found a pattern. The movie only showed them alone and vulnerable when they were being asked, but not at any other time. If the movie showed the characters vulnerable at other points besides when they were being asked, I think it would have made a pattern less visible.

I think that the idea of truth or dare as the basis for a horror movie is interesting, but too broad. I think that the directors could’ve played with this idea a lot more than they did and would’ve made it the film more entertaining.

Every year, Village School goes on the “iHop and Bowling” trip. This year was different though, as we decided to go to a proper Long Island diner instead of iHop before heading to bowling. It was a bit unfortunate, since at the day of the trip I was actually craving a nutella crepe, which they served only at iHop.

At the diner, my table ordered different things to eat; even though it was just after 10 AM, we all went for lunch items rather than breakfast. I ordered buffalo wings and mac and cheese, Taylor ordered mozzarella sticks and a tuna melt, Arielyn ordered an empanada, and… Emma ordered the same thing as Arielyn (they’re best friends though, so this was expected). I personally thought the mac and cheese was terrible, but at least it’s very hard to mess up buffalo wings, so not all my faith was lost. Taylor said her tuna melt was gross and too cheesy, and Arielyn complained about too many onions in her empanada. Emma didn’t say anything about her food. Overall, we were kind of disappointed about the diner experience, but we still had high hopes for bowling.

Arielyn, Emma, and Taylor arguing over… something…

When we arrived at the bowling alley, I was at Lane 10 with Phoebe and Danielle, and Emma, Arielyn, and Taylor were in Lane 9. Emma kept winning multiple times in Lane 9, and Danielle won twice on my lane. I struggled with the bowling ball because I kept picking up the really heavy ones (I struggled with anything over a few pounds). At least I managed to get a strike at some point, though!

The trip wasn’t my favorite, but it was still fun to spend the day with friends without the stress of actual school classes.

For a long time, bald eagles were a rare sight on Long Island. But recently, more and more of these majestic birds have been showing up here, mirroring an increased eagle populations all over the country.

Bald Eagles used to be common all over the country, but by the 1950s there were only 412 nesting pairs left in the lower 48 states. This was due to the pesticide DDT, which caused eagle’s eggs to become extremely brittle and make them break easily, making it almost impossible for eagles to reproduce. DDT was banned in 1972, which has led to a massive recovery of the bald eagle population. Now there are well over 10,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles in America’s lower 48!

In 1972, there was only one nesting pair of bald eagles left in NY state. In 1975, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation introduced nearly 200 bald eagles from Alaska and other states to New York, but all of these either nested upstate or left New York entirely.It was only in the last decade or so that bald eagles began to nest on Long Island again.

During last year’s breeding season, there were several bald eagle nests on Long Island, including on Gardiner’s Island, in Shirley, Centerport, and Hempstead Lake State Park. There was even one in Great Neck!

Next time you’re outside and find yourself near a river or lake, keep an eye out for an eagle, because you might just see one!

The story centers on a woman who is a trained physicist who is waiting to see her twin sister, Chloe, for the first time in years. She is waiting to show her how she has found the “hidden local variables” of the quantum entanglement of Electrons and Positrons. When she shows this to Chloe, she takes the local variables (seemingly superpowers of acquiring knowledge) and Chloe gives herself up to her and they become one person.

The example of quantum entanglements is based on experiments with light, which is made of photons. Light can be shined on something called a polarizer. Each photon reaching the polarizer will either pass through or be absorbed. The story accurately portrays Pions decaying into Electrons and Positrons. It also accurately portrays ‘spin’, which is basically where a particle goes in the magnetic field it belongs to. The story obviously exaggerates science with the local variables as supernatural abilities of acquiring knowledge and two humans morphing together; these things have no scientific basis.

Jed Brody the author, is the director of undergraduate studies of the physics department at Emory University.

8-bit is a measure of computer information during the 1980s generally used to refer to hardware and software in an era where computers were only able to store and process a maximum of 8 bits per data block. This limitation was mainly due to the existing processor technology at the time, which with which software had to conform. This resulted in blocky graphics and slow compute times.

At present, when 8-bit is mentioned, it is generally associated with slow computers, low-resolution graphics, and simplistic sound. I’m pretty sure most people who grew up in the 80s and 90s have heard of 8-bit video game which include classics like Mega Man, Super Mario Bros 3, Popeye, Pacman, Sonic, Ms. Pacman, Pokemon. The 8-bit gaming universe is my personal favorite because it is filled with fun puzzles and real challenges.

Mario from Super Mario Bros

People are way too spoiled with the games they have today and they forget about the old days of 8-bit gaming. But if it wasn’t for 8-bit, we wouldn’t have these realistic games today. Everyone remembers the old 8-bit Mario tune- who hasn’t heard it? A lot of these games have been played on an old gaming system called the Nintendo Entertainment System and when you hear the name, “Sega,” – that’s old! The Nintendo Entertainment System is pretty much one of the basic gaming system for 8-bit games back then.

Link from the Legend of Zelda

Today, it’s called a ‘third generation console.’ Even if it did just have a joystick, it was still entertaining with all the puzzles and activities in the games. I say we should still remember the old video games that kept us entertained as children and might still keep us entertained as adults.

A fellow Villager staff member, Brit, recently wrote an article about insomnia. I decided to write a follow up because I suffer from chronic insomnia and both onset and maintenance insomnia. I usually get around 4-5 hours of sleep on average every night of the week. It takes me around anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours to fall asleep, and I wake up around 2 to 6 times a night. While you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking, “What? How do you function everyday?!” I mean, I tried those relaxing techniques and all that jazz, as Brit had mentioned in her piece, but those things just didnt’t work, to be honest. It might work for other people, but for me, the relaxation techniques didn’t. So, I turned to sleeping medications. First, it was Benadryl and melatonin tablets, both of which didn’t have a significant effect. I then went to my psychiatrist and told her what was going on and she immediately started me on antidepressants like Trazodone and Mirtazapine, which work essentially as sedatives in order to help me sleep.

Trazodone 100 mg tablet.

Trazodone is an antidepressant which allows the production of more serotonin. Taken at higher doses, it also works as a sedative, which allows for off- label use for conditions such as insomnia. Mirtazapine is another type of antidepressant which is also used as a sedative. Antidepressants aren’t the only medications I’ve tried. I’ve also tried Vistaril which is an antihistamine for which you have to have a prescription. In my experience, it isn’t true that doctors usually don’t prescribe medication for chronic insomnia. What they probably won’t prescribe is a controlled substance, such as any medication from the drug class “Benzodiazepines,” because those can lead to abuse and withdrawal.

But in many cases, medication is the right way to go when all else fails. Insomnia is a difficult condition to live with and makes life unbearable at times. Many people worldwide suffer from insomnia; it’s not all that uncommon. Insomnia is often misunderstood as a condition in which people stay awake for days at a time and sometimes it is, but often that’s not the case. Insomnia is something I struggle with along with millions of other people. It’s difficult, but there are treatments we can seek out for help.

Mark Zuckerberg gave testimony during congressional hearings regarding user data and privacy rights because there is a significant concern about Facebook’s role in the shaping of our democracy.

Facebook’s ongoing Cambridge Analytica data-privacy scandal, and how Facebook has failed to guard against other abuses is the reason Zuckerburg was asked to appear.

To make a point about the importance of privacy, one senator asked whether Zuckerburg, “would be comfortable sharing aloud the name of the hotel where he stayed on Monday night, or whether he would be comfortable sharing the names of the people he has messaged this week.” Uncomfortable, Zuckerberg replied, “No. I would probably not choose to do that publicly here.”

On the last day of classes before spring break, Village School had its annual Festival of the Arts. Festival of the Arts is special because students get to showcase their talents and interests for peers and teachers. The day is organized by students and made possible by student enthusiasm and participation.

The day was divided up into 25-45 minutes sessions for workshops and performances, with two- three different workshops running per session; students had a choice as to which workshop they wanted to attend. For performances, the entire school would join together; no other sessions went on during a performance.

Two teachers, Lauren and Megan, attempting- and failing- at origami!

One workshop was an introduction to origami, led by Margaret. In this workshop, the students were taught how to fold an origami rose. They were given the choice of what color they wanted their roses to be as Margaret brought in a large variety of colors. Although some projects didn’t turn out as well as others, the students in this workshop enjoyed and introduction to the precision needed for origami folds.

David demonstrates a drill as Adrien, Fen, and Nathan look on.

Another workshop was a soccer workshop held on the front lawn. David taught different soccer drills to students including learning the proper way to dribble and pass the ball. The students in this workshop also did different stretches and warmups before doing any drills. David could not teach shooting drills, as the space on the front lawn did not permit. Despite this, the Village School students in this workshop had fun and got in a quick workout!

The adorable Cogsworth.

A third workshop was a presentation by Rose. Rose brought in Cogsworth, a rat from her animal care program at BOCES. Her presentation was full of interesting facts about rats and was very detailed. The students in this workshop learned things about rats that they never knew before. Some of these facts included the lifespans rats, the maximum weight rats can weigh, and how to properly care for an adult rat. Rose’s goal was to debunk fears and myths people have about rats and in the end, she seemed to do just that with many students lining up to meet and pet Cogsworth after her presentation.

A fourth workshop was cooking, led by Alexia and Ronni. The students made pizza in the kitchen during this workshop. It took teamwork to cook the pizza and was an excellent experience. While a student blended the tomatoes to make sauce, other students floured and stretched the dough. Then some students poured on the sauce while others put cheese on the dough. Then it was spread out in pans and baked in the oven. The pizza came out delicious and everyone at Village was invited to try it.

Kayleigh with her Paper Marbling project in Megan’s room.

Other workshops included paper marbling in Megan’s room, board games with Emma and Danielle, and beading with Margaret later in the day, both in Ronni’s room. Ryan gave two presentations entitled, “Intro to Documentary Theory,” and “Art Movements in Film.”

There were also some student performances in the gym. Amanda sang “Creep,” and was accompanied by Max on the guitar. Kayleigh then sang “Landslide,” and then paired with Max in a performance of “December, 1963.” Afterwards, Matt performed “Chasing Cars.” Later on in the day, the author of this article, Britt, played guitar and sang an original song.

Max and Kayleigh performing “The Four Seasons” classic.

Festival of the Arts was a really fun day at Village and everyone is already looking forward to what’s in store next year!